Apparatus for drying running web material



BUNJI KAWAGUCHI APPARATUS FOR DRYING RUNNING WEB MATERIAL Nov. 14, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 |||||i|| II Filed Oct. 16, 1958 RU 444414! E IFI ATTORNEY 3 1961 BUNJI KAWAGUCHI 3,008,243

APPARATUS FOR DRYING RUNNING WEB MATERIAL Filed Oct. 16, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .i' r J 23 24 m 28 MENTOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent F 3,008,243 APPARATUS FOR DRYING RUNNING WEB MATERIAL Bunji Kawaguchi, 6 Koyone-cho, Saiin, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan Filed Oct. 16, 1958, Ser. No. 767,562 1 Claim. (Cl. 34-160) rality of nozzles through which hot air can be blown l against any lengths of material passing through the chamber in order to dry said lengths of material, the arrangement being such that lengths of material in said chamber can pass along a path which is unobstructed and substantially straight, there being guide means disposed outside said chamber, for guiding lengths of material along said path in such a manner that the lengths of material do not come into contact with any members inside said chamber.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through an apparatus 0 drying lengths of material, for example lengths of cloth,

after the latter have been treated in a vat (also shown), some parts of the apparatus being broken away,

FIG. 2 is a section taken along the line III I in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a section taken along the line LII-III in FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the apparatus includes a vertical drying chamber 1, which is preferably three meters or more in height, and which has an entrance opening 2 and an exit opening 3, formed in the bottom and the top thereof, respectively, for lengths of cloth, one such length being denoted by a. An unobstructed vertical path 4 is left, between the members in the chamber 1, for the length a to pass from the entrance 2 to the exit 3. Before entering the chamber 1, the cloth a is passed through a vat 5 filled with treating liquid, for example with dye, resin solution or the like, and then passed between squeezing rolls 6, located just below the entrance 2, for squeezing excess liquid out of the cloth a immediately before the latter enters die chamber 1. A guide roll 7 is located just above the exit 3, and rolls 8 disposed adjacent the roll 7 draw the cloth a out of the chamber 1 and over the guide roll 7. The rolls 6 and 7 so guide the cloth a along the path 4 that the cloth does not come into contact with any of the members inside the chamber 1. The squeezing rolls 6 and the rolls 8 are driven at almost the same speed by one or more sources of power (not shown).

If desired, the guide members near the entrance 2 can be modified by disposing a guide roll between the entrance and the squeezing rolls 6 and, in that case, it is not necessary to position the rolls 6 just below the entrance 2.

Furthermore, the guide members near the exit 3 can be modified by disposing the rolls 8 with regard to the exit 3 in the same manner as the rolls 6 are disposed with regard to the entrance 2 in FIGURE 1, and, in that case, the roll 7 could be dispensed with. After leaving the drying chamber 1, the cloth a is preferably passed over drying cylinders 9 for further drying.

In addition, a baking machine or the like can be proice vided through which'the cloth a next passes, although such a machine is not illustrated in the drawings.

Inside the drying chamber 1 are disposed upper and lowerdriers of identical construction. Each drier includes a heater 15 for air drawn from the interior of the chamber 1 and a motor-driven blower 14 which draws air from the heater and blows the heated air into one duct of a pair of ducts 12 in the relevant drier. In FIGURE 1, the heated air is blown into the right-hand ducts of the respective pairs of ducts. Part of the heated airin each right-hand duct then travels through a hole 13 in the associated right-hand duct and into the open lower end of one of a relevant pair of hot air chambers 10, whilst the remainder of the heated air passes along a pair of conduits 16, disposed one on either side of the relevant'pair of ducts 12, and into the left-hand duct of the pair, from Where the heated air passes, through the hole 13 in the relevant left-hand duct, into the other of the associated pair of hot-air chambers 10. Nozzles 11 project outwardly, towards the cloth a, from one of the wider side walls of each hotair chamber 10 at approximately right angles to the vertical path 4. Since the two upper chambers 10 are disposed adjacent opposite faces of the cloth a, as also are the two lower chambers, heated air is blown from the nozzles 11 against both faces of the cloth. The chambers 10 are mounted on respective ducts 12 in such a manner as to be horizontally slidable along those ducts, thus permitting the distance between the two chambers of a pair to beadjusted. Horizontal shafts 17 are disposed above respective conduits 16 and are rotatably mounted, at one end, in that side wall of the chamber 1 furthest from the heater 15 and are supported, at the other end, by respective ducts 12. The shafts are axially immovable and each has a length of righbhand screw-threading and a length of left-hand screw-threading formed thereon. Projecting outwardly from the narrower side walls of the chambers 10 are cars 18, there being one ear associated with each narrower side wall. Each ear encircles an associated one of the lengths of screw-threading on the shafts 17 and is internally screw-threaded to co-operate with that length, so that rotation of any one shaft 17 causes the two ears encircling that shaft to move away from, or towards, one another.

Shafts 19 extend perpendicular to the upper two shafts 17 and the lower two shafts 17, respectively, and are connected to those shafts, for simultaneous rotation thereof, by bevel gear wheels 20 and 21. One end of each shaft 19 projects through the walls of the chamber 1 and a hand-wheel 22 is attached to that end. Rotation of one of the hand-wheels 22 causes rotation of the relevant shafts 19 and 17, and thus moves the relevant chambers 10 in opposite directions, that is to say, the distance between the respective relevant chambers 10 and the cloth a is increased or decreased.

Extending above the respective shafts 17, so as to be substantially parallel thereto, are further axially immovable shafts 23 which have ears 24 mounted thereon in such a manner as to be axially movable with respect to the shafts 23. Each shaft 23 is of identical construction to each shaft 17 except that it is not arranged to be driven by way of a gear-wheel 21 but by way of a hand-wheel 26 mounted on one end thereof. Furthermore, the shafts 23 are supported by side walls of the chamber 1 instead of by the ducts 12. The cars 24 difier from the ears 18 only in that they project from respective vertical baflle plates 25 instead of projecting from the narrower side Walls of the chambers 10. The baffle plates 25 are mounted in horizontal guideways on respective narrower side walls of the chambers 10, there thus being two bafile plates associated with each chamher, the plates being slidable towards and away from one h r and having th r r p e p nes at right an s 25 into theroute taken by the exhaust air which escape;

laterally from that part of the path 4 between. the relevant pair of hot-air chambers 10, the amount of that escaping exhaust air can be adjusted.

For each of the upper and lower driers, an exhaust opening 27 and a pair of inlet openings 28 are provided in the side Walls of the chamber 1. Each of these openlugs 27 and 28 is provided with adjustable shutter meansso that the amount of air passing therethrough can be voluntarily adjusted.

When the appanatus described above is in use, the cloth a, which has been treated with the, liquid in the vat 5,-is carried into the dryingcharnber 1 immediately after passing between the squeezing rolls 6, and is then dried, within the chamber, by the hot air blown from the nozzles 11.

. A great advantage is that the cloth passed through the chamber 1 does not contact any articles such as rolls, clips or the like within the chamber 1, so that the treating liquid on the cloth does not run, as it would do if the cloth touched any articles'while still relatively wet. Consequently, the finished cloth should be free from unevenness of color or similar defects. Since cloth a is actually partly supported, against gravity, by thehot air blown against both faces thereof during vertical travel through the chamber 1, the tensioni-n the cloth is appreciably decreased, V

What I claim is: Apparatus for drying web material comprising an elongated housing having a bottom inlet opening and a top outlet opening for the web material, means supporting sa d h u ng w its longi udi d ec i n ex di P- right, an air heater mounted in said housing, an air blower connected to said heater for drawing heated air therefrom, a pair of ducts fixedly mounted within said housing and extending laterally thereof, means connecting said ducts to said blower for passing hot air to said ducts, a pair of elongated hot air chambers each slide- 1 ably mounted on a different'one of said ducts and having an opening in communication with its respective duct for receiving heated air therefrom, said chambers being positioned opposite one another and extending longitudinally of said housing, each of said chambers having a series of nozzles along the length thereof directed towards the {opposite chamber, means for moving said chambers to and from one another and along said ducts, a plurality of ease plates, means adjustably supporting said bafile plates with each plate alongside'a difierent side of a difierent one. of said chambers with each plate positioned having an edge facing but spaced from an edge ofanother of said plates controlling the hot air outlet from between said chambers, means for guiding said web material into said inlet opening, between said chambers and their adjacent baffies and from said outlet opening with said webv travelling in a vertical direction in said h si st References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,389,586 Andrews Nov. 27, 1945 2,409,431 Hess Oct, 15, 1945 2,471,802 Walteret al'. May 31, 1949 2,590,850 Dungler Apr. 1, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 477,234 Italy n June 15, 1953 496,430 It ly "i July 20, 1954 

